The latest Mortgage Bankers Association survey shows the rate of mortgage loans going into forbearance slowed still further last week.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey shows that the total number of loans in forbearance increased from 7.54 percent of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 7.91 percent as of May 3. According to MBA’s estimate, almost 4 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
Those figures compare to 6.99 percent for the week ending April 19 and 5.96 percent for the week ending April 12. By comparison, only 0.25 percent of all loans were in forbearance for the week of March 2.
Mortgages backed by Ginnie Mae had the largest overall share of loans in forbearance by investor type, with 10.96 percent. The number of loans in forbearance for depository servicers rose to 8.75 percent, while the number of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank servicers increased to 7.54 percent.
“With the calendar turning to May, the share of loans in forbearance increased, but the pace of the increase and incoming forbearance requests continued to slow,” Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. “The dreadful April jobs report showed a decline of more than 20 million jobs and a spike in the unemployment rate to the highest level since the Great Depression. It will not be surprising if the forbearance numbers continue to rise. As we anticipated, FHA and VA borrowers have been most impacted by the job losses thus far, with the share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance at almost 11 percent.”
The share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance increased relative to the prior week from 10.45 percent to 10.96 percent. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance increased from 5.85 percent the prior week to 6.08 percent. As a percent of servicing portfolio volume, calls to mortgage servicers increased from 7.2 percent to 8.6 percent.
“Although the pace of forbearance requests slowed this week, call volume picked up – which could be a sign that more borrowers are calling in to check their options now that May due dates have arrived,” Fratantoni said.
